Mazumdar-Shaw attacks PM's remarks on Modi

Draws criticism from Twitterati

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Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, the outspoken chairman & managing director of India's largest publicly-held biotechnology company, Biocon, on Saturday found herself in the midst of a war of words with a cross section of citizens on Twitter. This was after she came down heavily on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for sharply cricitising the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, for the Gujarat riots of 2002, at a press conference the previous day.

"It was most unbecoming n improper for PM to make such uncalled for comments against Narendra Modi [sic]," she tweeted.

A section of citizens debated her views, saying Modi so often criticised Singh as well as Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and asked why Mazumdar-Shaw did not take a critical view of Modi on those occasions. In response, she said the PM was not at a political rally but was giving a national address.

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Mazumdar-Shaw’s tweets [sic]
“It was most unbecoming n improper for PM to make such uncalled for comments against Narendra Modi.”
On January 4
“Kejriwal dwarfed the big parties today with his very effective n well delivered speech. BJP shd learn to be gracious”
On January 2

"Personal attacks is not good politics," she said, adding that parties needed to debate their political agenda. "I wish political leaders stop personal mud slinging n focus on other issues [sic]."

She went on to add that much had been said about the Gujarat riots. "People were indeed furious when riots happened. As CM obviously people like (HDFC Chairman) Deepak Parekh vented their fury on him."

Her attack of the PM's remarks came days after she praised Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's speech and gave Modi's BJP a lesson in grace. She had tweeted on Thursday: "Kejriwal dwarfed the big parties today with his very effective n well delivered speech. BJP shd learn to be gracious [sic]."

Also, this is not the first time Mazumdar-Shaw is in the limelight for being outspoken. In an earlier episode, she had said a certain Cabinet minister in Karnataka was not fit for the post of IT & BT minister. That comment of hers had snowballed into a major issue and she had to later personally meet the minister concerned and settle the matter.